We Will Protect Every Judge - Kobakhidze requests an Answer from the US Embassy Regarding Judge Lasha Chkhikvadze

Irakli Kobakhidze, chairman of the Georgian Dream, said that the "radical opposition" accused the US Embassy of discrimination against the judiciary, violation of judicial independence and attempts at informal governance. He made this statement with regard to Judge Lasha Chkhikvadze who sentenced Nika Gvaramia to 3.5 years in prison.

Kobakhidze said that the government "will stand by and defend every judge who may be subject to intimidation and pressure from an evil political force."

He expressed regret that Tamaz Urtmelidze and the other judges in the Rustavi 2 case had not been defended in the past, something the government should not allow a second time.

"I am even going to talk about that the act in question is a crime under Article 364 Part 2 of the Criminal Code, accusing the American diplomats of committing  a criminal offense is highly irresponsible, to say the least.

 Imagine if the High Council of Justice did a similar thing, If any judge was summoned and even removed from a seminar or conference without legitimate grounds because of a controversial decision, I can imagine how much outrage the same topics would cause to the same people" Kobakhidze said.

Kobakhidze recalled the expression "everyone thinks in terms of their own depravity" and said that the "radical opposition" and its internal and external representatives behave this way because they think that the U.S. Embassy will behave the way they do.

"Naturally, the U.S. Embassy has never acted in accordance with the methods of the UNM, has not discriminated against a judge, has not interfered with the independence of the judiciary, and has not attempted informal governance. I firmly believe this or why do they think that any judge can influence someone because they will or will not go to America? If someone really dared to cancel a judge's visit, I'm sure it would have had the opposite effect, and the visit would have been canceled by other judges as well. [...]

I would like to request the U.S. Embassy, I realize that even a negative answer to this question would be embarrassing. The U.S. Embassy would be embarrassed to say that it has not committed a crime, has not discriminated, has not interfered with the independence of the Georgian judiciary, and has not sought informal governance, but speculation continues, and one little statement from the U.S. Embassy would easily put an end to that speculation," he said.

According to Kobakhidze, if the embassy does not release a statement, it will become clear to them and the public will believe that the allegations of discrimination against the judge were speculation by the opposition.